What We're All Looking For
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Chapter 9
Ruby headed away from the Inn Weiss had disappeared into. She thought their little meeting had gone pretty well, all things considered, and had even felt a sliver of relief at how well thought out her arguments regarding Patch had been. Whether or not her plans would work would remain to be seen.
One thing that had made itself very clear, however, was that Weiss Schnee was far more competent than Ruby had thought. And the more competent she appeared, the more attractive she became. And that thought was dangerous, and very stupid.
And while Ruby was willing to be a little more open to the process of rebuilding her town Weiss' way, it would behoove her to let her guard down when she knew Weiss was even smarter than she looked.
"Mom!"
At the call, Ruby whirled around just in time to catch her daughter in mid-flight and wrap her up in a hug.
"Summer!" she cried, her mood taking an immediate one-eighty. "What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be in school?"
Summer hopped back away from Ruby and peered up at her. "School's closed 'till next week, mom. Remember?"
Ruby blinked, her cheeks warming at the realization that her own daughter had kept better tabs on the goings on in Patch than she did. In Summer's much smaller world, at least. "Ah… yeah, of course I remember," she laughed off her embarrassment. "Well, in that case, do you wanna go have an early lunch with me?"
Summer tilted her head, confused. "I thought you were meeting Weiss?"
Again, Ruby was caught off guard. "H-how did you know that?"
Summer smiled widely, clearly pleased at consistently one-upping her mother. "Well, I was with Jess this morning and she said that her mom and dad were talking with Weiss about their new house. And then Jess heard them say that after they were done, Weiss was going to see you and fight some more!"
Ruby was speechless. It was official: her daughter was an information gathering machine. Either that, or she was way too perceptive for her own good. Regardless, best nip this one in the bud.
"We weren't fighting," Ruby muttered, petulant.
"Aww, you mean she's gone?" Summer moaned. "But I wanted to see her again!"
Ruby's mind launched into overdrive at that. Was Weiss really the kind of person she wanted interacting with her daughter regularly? Fuck no. But on the other hand, Mary and Jeff liked her, and that meant they were probably okay with their own daughter seeing Weiss. And Summer clearly had a good impression of the woman from their short time playing ball with each other the previous night, and really, if she had walked away from that relatively unscathed, then-
"Hi, Weiss!" Summer called out, waving her hands in the air.
Crap. Too late. Think fast Rubes!
"Uh… Weiss, you got a minute?" she asked as the woman exited the inn and diverted from her destination back towards Ruby and Summer.
Weiss stopped before them and looked down at the little girl next to Ruby. The smile that spread across her face was genuine, as far as Ruby could tell, and immediately alleviated the anxiety crawling through her body. She put a lot of stock in judging people by how they interacted with children, hers in particular.
"Absolutely," Weiss said, kneeling down slightly. "Hello again. Summer, was it?"
"Mmhmm," Summer nodded, her grin wide as she kicked at the ground in a picture-perfect aw shucks routine.
Ruby stepped closer to Summer and placed her hands on her shoulders. "I guess you haven't… been formally introduced. This is Summer. My daughter." She sent a significant look to Weiss. "She wanted to thank you for playing with her last night. Didn't you, Summer?"
Weiss smiled - smirked, really - at Ruby and winked. "Of course. I had a lot of fun playing with you and Jess, Summer." She offered her hand, and Summer -bless her- raised hers up.
"You're supposed to high five!" she said with a shake of her head.
Weiss chuckled. "How silly of me, there you go." She adjusted her hand and lightly smacked Summer's in the hair. "You have a good high five."
"Thanks! I practice with Jess all the time. We even have a secret handshake."
Weiss glanced up and Ruby, her grin widening. "Oh yeah? Can you teach me sometime?"
"Maybe," Summer replied smugly. "If Jess says it's okay. You're fixing her house, so I think she'll say okay."
Laughing, Weiss straighted. "I'll look forward to it. You know, your mom's been really helpful to me, as well."
Summer's eyebrows climbed up her forehead. "Really?" She looked up at Ruby with stars in her eyes, and Ruby felt like an asshole.
"Of course," Weiss continued. "I wouldn't have been able to help anyone if you mom wasn't here to help me first."
Summer looked up at Ruby like she had just saved the cutest kitten from the biggest tree in Vale, and Ruby smiled back at her.
"Weiss is a good person, Summer," she found herself saying despite herself. "She's going to help everyone here."
"Woooooow," Summer breathed. "That's soooo cool. Weiss, do you want to come over for dinner?"
What?
"What?" Ruby said as soon as she thought the words. She blinked and cleared her throat. Weiss looked straight at Ruby and, in at all possible, her grin widened even further.
"Why, I would absolutely love to," she said evilly.
"Really?" Summer gasped. "Because Jess and her mom and dad and grandma and grandpa are also staying with us so there'll be a lot of people there but I think we have enough food and then you can eat with us too and-"
"Summer," Ruby cut her daughter off before she could run out of breath. "It's okay. She understands."
Summer nodded referently. "Yeah. Do you have anybody you want to come too? Your mom or dad?"
Ruby felt her face freeze, and it took every ounce of her willpower to keep from moving an inch as her gaze darted towards Weiss. Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit.
But, surprisingly, Weiss looked chagrined. "My parents are both gone, Summer," she said softly. "My brother and sister are here in Patch, but I think they are too busy to come to dinner."
"Ohhhh, that's too bad! I want a brother and sister. But my mom said I'm an only child." She nodded, as though pleased she remembered.
Ruby tugged Summer back slightly before she could say anything further. "Okay. She gets it, Summer. That's enough."
Summer looked up at Ruby, confused, but Weiss said, "Well, you have Jess, right? I bet she's like a sister to you."
At that, Summer's face lit up. "Yeah! She is like my sister! So, are you coming for dinner tonight? You can come tonight, right?"
Weiss laughed. "What are you having?"
"Pizza!" Summer declared happily.
"I absolutely love pizza," Weiss announced.
Summer whirled around and stared down Ruby. "Mom, we're having pizza because Weiss loves it. Can we-"
Ruby slapped a hand over her daughter's mouth. "Honey, I think it would be better to check with Jess and her parents before deciding to have pizza. Besides, I have a feeling that Weiss has other things to do while we decide, right?" She looked at Weiss pleadingly.
"I do," Weiss said, chuckling quietly.
"Can we go right now, mom?" Summer was practically bouncing up and down on her toes. "Can we go ask them right now, please?"
She sighed, and got out through a forced grin, "Sure we can, honey."
"Yes!" Summer cheered, bounding away. "See you for dinner, Weiss! Remember, we're eating pizza!"
Weiss caught Ruby's eyes before she turned away. "You'll let me know the time for dinner." It was not a question.
Ruby gritted her teeth. "Sure thing. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a child to wrangle."
She was about to turn away when Weiss suddenly - and damn near scaring ten years of her life away - lit up in one of the biggest grins Ruby had ever seen. She threw her hands up in the air, and cheered out a raucous welcome.
Two people, a man and a woman, with eerily similar white hair were approaching their small group, and Ruby had the distinct pleasure of feeling her hackles rise and her stomach turn at the same exact time.
Lovely… a whole clan of Schnees. What's next, Crescent Rose malfunctioning?
Stopping that train of thought before even getting out of the station, Ruby slapped on the most polite smile she could as she turned to greet the new arrivals.
Whitley was the first to arrive, and he did so with aplomb, throwing a gangly arm over Weiss' shoulder and nudging her in a very 'brotherly' fashion. At the same time, Winter took a relaxed stance between Ruby and her siblings, nodding to Ruby respectfully. If she were honest, the eldest Schnee - and, coincidentally, the most decorated as far as the military was concerned - made her the least nervous. At least with Winter, Ruby knew more or less what to expect. So far the woman had been the consummate professional, and treated Ruby with an air of aloof respect.
Ruby could appreciate that.
On the other hand, Whitley was very different from what she expected. Ruby was usually a pretty good judge of character, and she couldn't pigeonhole the man to save her life. He seemed fairly intelligent and polite, but there was also an air of mystery to him that -if she were anyone else- she'd probably find attractive.
Luckily, she wasn't. And she didn't.
And Weiss, well... that was a totally different story. And not one she wanted to touch with a ten foot pole.
"Big sister," Whitley greeted smoothly. "How was your first walk-through?"
"It went better than I anticipated. Mary and Jeff were both very open to suggestions, and even had some notable ideas of their own."
Nodding as though that was expected, Whitley pulled away and smiled at Ruby. "Miss Rose," he greeted. "How are you?"
"Fine, thank you," Ruby said shortly.
"And who is this enchanting young lady?" Whitley knelt down to get a better look at Summer, his perfectly white teeth flashing as he smiled. Summer giggled, and looked to the ground, her cheeks darkening noticeably.
What the… Ruby felt her eyes widen. Aww shit. That was certainly something Ruby wanted to avoid. She stepped a little closer to her daughter -putting her hands on her little shoulders protectively- and cleared her throat. "This is Summer. My daughter." She looked at the group, gauging their reactions. Winter was looking at Summer, a curious tilt to her head and an odd look in her sharp eyes. Fuck. Whitley, on the other hand, held out his to Summer, all dazzling smiles and civility.
"Lovely to meet you, Summer," he said.
Summer giggled again, and parroted, "lovely to meet you, too." She reached out and Whitley took her little hand in his, giving it a gentle squeeze.
"Don't you know, Whitley?" Weiss remarked sardonically. "You're supposed to give high fives."
Whitley gasped theatrically. "Oh, of course! How silly of me." He held his hand aloft and Summer slapped it with hers. "There we go. Thank you very much, Summer."
"You're welcome!" she said breathlessly. She started giggling again and this time didn't stop.
Ruby felt like she should be dragging her daughter away, if only to get on with her day. She had the uncomfortable feeling that if left to her own devices, Summer would follow the Schnee clan around, giggling and blushing like, well… like a little girl.
Hoo boy.
"Come on, Summer," Ruby insisted, tugging at her shoulder gently. "Let's go see what we can do about lunch."
Summer looked like she was about to argue, but when Whitley winked down at her and said his goodbyes, she started giggling again and Ruby took the opportunity to pull her away. She half dragged, half carried her around the corner and from then on, she was golden.
"Wooooow," Summer breathed, "he was soooo pretty."
Ruby couldn't stop herself from snorting. "If you say so, Sum."
"He was! And so was Weiss! They're all so pretty!"
Ruby hummed something inaudible under her breath, both unable and unwilling to comment on that. At least, not in front of her eight year old daughter. The Schnees might be attractive, but that was superficial. What was underneath was what mattered.
And that, more than anything, was what Ruby was afraid of.
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